Sankey diagram

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Sankey diagrams are a specific type of flow diagram, in which the width of the arrows is shown proportionally to the flow quantity. They are typically used to visualize energy or material transfers between processes.

They are named after Irish Captain Matthew Henry Phineas Riall Sankey, who is considered to have been the first to use this type of diagram in 1898 in a publication on the energy efficiency of a steam engine. While the first charts in black and white were merely used to display one type of flow (e.g steam), using colors for different types of flows has added another dimension to Sankey diagrams.

Sankey diagrams are used in chemical engineering or environmental engineering to show flow quantitites in process systems. They are also very common to visualize the energy accounts or material flow accounts on a regional or national level, such as Energy in Scotland: Supply and Demand (Source: Scottish Executive) or Material Flow Accounts (MFAs) – Demonstration for Ireland - 2001 (Source: Irish Environmental Protection Agency).

[edit] Software

There are a number of software tools that support the drawing of Sankey diagrams:

e!Sankey - Software for Sankey diagrams

Sankey Editor - Static und dynamic Sankey diagrams

Umberto - Material flow software with Sankey diagrams

[edit] See also

• Thermodynamics
• Material Flow Management